Petrochimi opened Day 2 at the FIBA Asia Champions Cup 2016 in style by crushing ONGC of India, 95-51. The Iranians notched their second win in a row and handed the Indians their first defeat of the tournament.

James White and Gerald Robinson, Jr. did well for Petrochimi again, but it was Mehrad Atashi and Oshin Sahakian who stepped up big time, recording a combined 26 points. ONGC, meanwhile, was paced by the combined 27 points of Vishesh Bhriguvanshi and Amritpal Singh.

ONGC had good size, but they just didn’t have the depth to match up well with Petrochimi. The Iranians outrebounded the Indians, 56-29, and limited them to 34% field goal shooting. It was as lopsided as it could get in favor of Petrochimi.

ONGC will play Al-Rayyan (Qatar) tomorrow.

credits: Fiba.com

Hyderabad, 7^th October 2016: The finals of the 43^rd Arise Steel Sub-Junior National Basketball Championship 2016 concluded a short while ago at the SATS Indoor Stadium, Saroornagar in the city.

Chhattisgarh girls and BFI-Madhya Pradesh* defended their titles from last year, beating Kerala and Rajasthan respectively.

Mr P Niranjan Reddy, Vice Chairman, Telangana Government Planning Commission distributed the winning boys’ medals and trophy. Mr Aadhav Arjuna, Managing Director of Arise Steel Industries, the title sponsors of this championship, was the special guest for the second day running. Also seen distributing the trophies and medals were Mr Chander Mukhi Sharma, Secretary-General of Basketball Federation of India, Mr M Rajender Reddy, President, Telangana Basketball Association, Mr R Sridhar Reddy, President, Organising Committee (& also President of the Hyderabad District Basketball Association) and other dignitaries.

Chhattisgarh girls bt Kerala 57-48

The winners of the last two sub-junior national championships, Kerala girls and defending champions Chhattisgarh squared off in the final today morning. The game lived up to its billing with both teams sticking close to each other till the final minutes. Chhattisgarh followed their game plan of ball movement and finding the open man against Kerala’s zone defence. Kerala’s go-to player, centre Ann Mary Zachariah, struggled in the early going being unable to knock down freethrows. She was frequently double-teamed which opened up the lane for her teammate, Aleena Antony, who kept making tough layups to keep her side within a couple of possessions of Chhattisgarh.

Chhattisgarh, however, went on an 8-3 run to close the first half and held a 37 to 31 lead entering the third quarter. Kerala’s Ann Mary found her touch in the third quarter, creating second chance opportunities for her team. But Chhattisgarh still held the advantage entering the fourth period leading by 3 points.

In the final quarter, Chhattisgarh were the more accurate team from the field and found easy scoring opportunities in transition. Kirti (20 points) and Urvashi Baghel (16 points) led the way for their team as Chhattisgarh pulled away from Kerala in the final minutes. Coach Rajesh Patel guided his team admirably in this game resulting in a 57-48 win and a repeat championship run.

“This is my 100^th medal at the national level,” an ecstatic Chhattisgarh Head Coach Rajesh Patel said post the win.

BFI-MP* bt Rajasthan 69-66

Defending champions BFI-Madhya Pradesh* boys were gunning for a three-peat as they entered their final against Rajasthan. Both teams were unbeaten so far in the tournament. The game began slowly with the teams feeling each other out in the first quarter. Rajasthan managed to put up only 6 points in the first period, but went on a scoring run in the second taking full advantage and poured in 37 points in the second quarter. Rajasthan regained the lead with the halftime score at 43 to 31.

In the second half BFI-Madhya Pradesh* showcased their quality offense, led by big man Virat Dhakad (19 points). Both teams followed a run-and-gun style of play, but BFI-MP* had more accuracy from the field in the second period and pulled their way back into the contest.

Leading by one point entering the fourth period, BFI-MP* kept their poise and held off a furious Rajasthan comeback attempt. Rajasthan’s most consistent player in the tournament, Mahaveer Banjara, led the way for his team once again with 29 points. But it wasn’t enough, as BFI-MP* pulled off a 3-point victory and were crowned 3-time champions.

Final Standings

Girls	Boys
1. Chhattisgarh	1. BFI-Madhya Pradesh
2. Kerala	2. Rajasthan
3. Tamil Nadu	3. Haryana
4. Maharashtra	4. Andhra Pradesh
5. Rajasthan	5. Telangana
6. Uttar Pradesh	6. Chhattisgarh
7. Karnataka	7. Uttar Pradesh
8. BFI-Madhya Pradesh*	8. Punjab
9. Delhi	9. Maharashtra
10. Punjab	10. Odisha

 

RESULTS FROM Day 7 (7^th October 2016)

Girls:

Finals

1. Chhattisgarh (Kirti 20, Urvashi Baghel 16) bt Kerala (Ann Mary Zachariah 19, Aleena Antony 8) 57-48 (18-16, 19-15, 8-11, 12-6)

3-4 Classification Match

1. Tamil Nadu (Nitika A 19, Sathya K 19, Sree Varshini J 18) btMaharashtra (Siya Deodhar 18, Chaitaali Bafna 14) 70-50 (16-14, 14-7, 27-16, 13-13)

Boys:

Level 1

Finals

1. BFI-Madhya Pradesh (Virat Dhakad 19, Aman Negi 13) bt Rajasthan(Mahaveer Banjara 29, Kamal Singh 10) 69-66 (14-6, 17-37, 24-11, 14-12)

3-4 Classification Match

1. Haryana (Gourav 19, Depender 11, Sahil 11, Vikas 10) bt Andhra Pradesh (Shaik Ahmed 12, Nayeem Pranav 8) 73-42 (17-6, 25-10, 12-19, 19-7)

Hyderabad, 6^th October 2016: The semifinal games of the 43^rd Arise Steel Sub-Junior National Basketball Championship 2016 concluded today at the SATS Indoor Stadium, Saroornagar in the city.

Mr Aadhav Arjuna, Managing Director of Arise Steel Industries, the title sponsors of this championship, was the chief guest of the evening. He shook hands with both the Telangana and Rajasthan boys squads accompanied by Mr R Sridhar Reddy, President of the Organising Committee & Hyderabad District Basketball Association and Mr M Rajender Reddy, President, Telangana Basketball Association.

In the girls section, Chhattisgarh beat Maharashtra in a closely fought 51-45 game. Khushboo Gupta top scored for the defending champions with 19 points. In the second semifinals, southern rivals Tamil Nadu and Kerala battled hard before Kerala prevailed 66-62.

In the two boys semifinals, defending champions BFI-Madhya Pradesh* and Rajasthan separated themselves in the second half against Haryana and Andhra Pradesh respectively, to set up their summit clash.

Tomorrow’s final day schedule is as follows:

3^rd & 4^th Place Matches

8.00 am Haryana vs Andhra Pradesh – Boys (Court 1)

8.00 am Maharashtra vs Tamil Nadu – Girls (Court 2)

Finals

10.00 am Chhattisgarh vs Kerala – Girls (Court 1)

11.30 am Madhya Pradesh vs Rajasthan – Boys (Court 1)

 

RESULTS FROM Day 6 (6^th October 2016)

Girls:

Level 1

Semifinals

1. Chhattisgarh (Khushboo Gupta 19, Urvashi 14) bt Maharashtra (Siya Deodhar 12, Sanskruti Pawar 7) 51-45 (20-6, 12-14, 9-14, 10-11)
2. Kerala (Jayasree 21, Gouri 17) bt Tamil Nadu (Sathya K 29, Nitika 14)66-62 (18-24, 20-6, 15-14, 13-18)

5-6 Classification Match

1. Rajasthan (Rashi Kothani 17, Uma Bairna 8) bt Uttar Pradesh (Chaitali Rajesh 16, Kirti Nigam 8) 46-40 (16-11, 9-3, 6-10, 15-16)

7-8 Classification Match

1. Karnataka (Harini MS 14, Janani N 10) bt Madhya Pradesh (Sania Pal 5)35-22 (6-2, 9-7, 8-8, 12-3)

First round of 5-8 Classification Matches

1. Uttar Pradesh (Ananya 8, Chitali 7) bt Madhya Pradesh (Manvi Agarwal 10) 33-21 (9-3, 7-2, 6-5, 11-11)
2. Rajasthan (Rashi Kothani 16) bt Karnataka (Harini MS 8) 41-25 (7-5, 3-8, 8-13, 7-15)

9-10 Classification Match

1. Delhi (Trishala 17, Kritika D 13) bt Punjab (Rupali 5, Manroop K 5) 42-13(16-11, 11-0, 11-0, 42-2)

Level 2 Losers Knockout Finals:

1. Gujarat (Naomi Lakhanpal 18, Jenisha Avari 11) bt Himachal Pradesh(Gagneet Kaur 10)  42-35 (13-4, 2-11, 16-12, 11-8)

Boys:

Level 1

Semifinals

1. BFI-Madhya Pradesh* (Sachindra Sharma 23, Brijesh Tiwari 12, Virat Dhakad 11) bt Haryana (Depender 17, Sahil 14, Gourav 13) 66-54 (9-18, 16-8, 20-9, 21-19)
2. Rajasthan (Seikh Saifali 32, Mahaveer Banjara 24, Digvijay Singh 12) btAndhra Pradesh (Shaik Ahmed Alisha 20, S Nayeem Basha 12) 94-65 (12-12, 26-18, 24-19, 32-16)

5-6 Classification Match

1. Telangana (Harsh Hooda 17, Shaik Khaja Vali 12, Shoib Khan 12) btChhattisgarh (Shivam Dubey 20, Rishab Jaiswar 9) 49-48 (10-8, 9-10, 13-14, 17-16)

7-8 Classification Match

1. Uttar Pradesh (Robin Banerjee 10, Suraj Sonkar 8) bt Punjab (Gurdeep Singh 13) 43-28 (11-9, 18-11, 8-5, 6-3)

First round of 5-8 Classification Matches

1. Telangana (Shankar 12, Ritvik Inamala 11, Khaja Vali 10) bt Uttar Pradesh (Yash Vardhan 15, Mayank Pal 14) 59-54 (7-12, 15-7, 20-14, 17-21)
2. Chhattisgarh (Md Farhan Raza 14, R Deepak 11, Rishab Jaiswar 10) btPunjab (Gurdeep Singh 14) 55-31 (9-7, 15-10, 22-9, 19-15)

9-10 Classification Match

1. Maharashtra (Imran Khan 18, Usman Khan 18, Huzaifa Qureshi 15) btOdisha (Manoj Kumar 24, Brahmanda Behe 13) 67-60 (14-15, 9-17, 26-14)

Level 2 Losers Knockout Finals:

1. Tamil Nadu (J Yogeswaran 18, S Harish 10, R Harish 10) bt Delhi(Saurabh 15, Ashwani 12, Tushar 9) 54-48 (12-12, 8-13, 18-12, 16-11)

Hyderabad, 5^th October 2016: The key knockout stages of the 43^rd Arise Steel Sub-Junior National Basketball Championship 2016 began today at the SATS Indoor Stadium, Saroornagar in the city.

From the girls section, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra entered the semifinals, while in the boys section, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana also progressed to the final four.

In the most anticipated quarterfinal matchup of the day, hosts Telangana took on two time defending champions Madhya Pradesh.  After a close first half where Telangana stayed within striking distance, the hosts ultimately fell quite tamely 42-63.

Tomorrow first half will witness 5-8 classification matches, followed by the semifinals from 2pm onwards.

In lower Level 2’s Loser’s Knockout tournament, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat (girls) and Delhi and Tamil Nadu boys progressed to the finals.

 

RESULTS FROM Day 5 (5^th October 2016)

Girls:

Level 1

Quarterfinals

1. Kerala (Ann Mary Zachariah 23, Aleena Antony 14) bt Rajasthan (Rashi Kothani 19, Diksha Pareek 10) 50-41 (19-9, 12-5, 13-16, 16-9)
2. Tamil Nadu (Sree Varshini J 25, Sathya K 21) bt Karnataka (Harini MS 8, Aishwarya Panalkar 8) 67-41 (18-10, 6-10, 22-11, 21-10)
3. Maharashtra (Sara Ali Ahemad 13, Siya Deodhar 12, Danka A Pereira 9) bt Madhya Pradesh (Asmat Kaur Tanque 9, Ishita Navya Sharma 7) 48-30 (7-9, 19-2, 10-6, 12-13)
4. Chhattisgarh (D Kirti 14, Akanksha Singh 12, Jyoti Prajapati 10) bt Uttar Pradesh (Chaitali Rajesh 9, Tanvi Suri 6, Kirti Nigam 6) 49-35 (16-8, 8-9, 11-3, 14-15)

Pre-quarterfinals

1. Uttar Pradesh (Chaitali Rajesh 15, Kirti Nigam 11) bt Delhi (Yakshita Jain 14, Kritika Dhingra 9) 56-39 (16-11, 8-13, 15-10, 17-15)
2. Karnataka (Harini MS 10, Janani N 10, Jeshtnavi Gudimani 9) bt Punjab(Isha 6) 45-27 (17-7, 10-12, 5-4, 13-4)

Level 1 to Level 2 (For Next Year)

*Both these teams have already been relegated to Level 2 for next year and this match is played in order to decide which of the lower level groups these team will go to next year.

1. Haryana (Sameeksha 25, Kiran 9) bt Telangana (Yannam Swathi 8) 49-32 (12-12, 13-8, 15-10, 9-2)

Level 2 Loser Knockout Semifinals:

1. Himachal Pradesh (Anshika 11, Vamshika Nirala 11) bt Odisha (Sweta Pradhan 3) 49-10 (19-3, 15-4, 6-3, 9-0)
2. Gujarat (Niyati Malini 8) bt Chandigarh (Anjali Negi 12) 35-29 (10-10, 10-9, 13-2, 2-9)

Boys:

Level 1

Quarterfinals

1. Andhra Pradesh (Shaik Ahmed Alisha 27, M Bhargav 11, Sreetam Tripathy 10) bt Chhattisgarh (Rishab Jaiswar 15, Pranav Sharma 10) 63-58 (4-12, 20-16, 20-14, 19-16)
2. Haryana (Robin Banerjee 20, Vinay Pawar 12) bt Uttar Pradesh (Gourav 24, Sahil 20, Akshay 10) 76-54 (24-14, 16-20, 16-10, 20-10)
3. Rajasthan (Mahaveer Banjara 24, Sheikh Shaifali 15, Digvijay Singh S 14, Shivam Kumawat 11) bt Punjab (Rohan 17, Deepak Kumar 13, Tanvir Singh 12) 82-60 (16-20, 18-13, 30-14, 18-13)
4. Madhya Pradesh (Virat Kakkar 33, Sachindra Sharma 16) bt Telangana(Rohit 10, Shaik Khaja Vali 9) 63-42 (13-9, 11-14, 17-10, 22-19)

Pre-quarterfinals

1. Telangana (Shaik Khaja 17, M Shankar 10) bt Maharashtra (Imran Khan 16, H Qureshi 15, Usman 12) 68-50 (18-13, 21-8, 17-19, 12-10)
2. Punjab (Rohan 26, Gurdeep Singh 22, Deepak Kumar 15, Prince Kumar 10) bt Odisha (SK Fayazuddin 26, Brahmananda B 26) 83-74 (18-15, 17-16, 18-18, 30-25)

Level 1 to Level 2 (For Next Year)

*Both these teams have already been relegated to Level 2 for next year and this match is played in order to decide which of the lower level groups these team will go to next year.

1. Karnataka (Achintya Krishna 21, Shivakumar R 21) bt Kerala (Pranav Prince 17, Sachin Cherian 8) 48-38 (3-17, 13-14, 19-19, 13-8)

Level 2 Loser Knockout Semifinals:

1. Delhi (Saurabh 13, Alpansh Makker 11) bt Jammu & Kashmir (Rinku Singh 12, Rajat Bhardwaj 8) 51-33 (10-6, 16-8, 14-5, 11, 14)
2. Tamil Nadu (R Harish 23, S Harish 15) bt Himachal Pradesh (Prabhjot Singh 11, Kunga Negi 10, Churchill Bhardwaj 9) 63-53 (9-15, 16-8, 18-17, 20-13)

Hyderabad, 4^th October 2016: Four days into the 43^rd Arise Steel Sub-Junior National Basketball Championship 2016 and things are looking clearer with the knockout stages around the corner. There was joy for the home crowd today morning as the Telangana boys advanced to Level 1 of the tournament after beating Chandigarh 66-32. Centre Harsh Hooda top scored again for Telangana with 13 points. The Punjab girls and boys also moved up to the Level 1, both defeating their West Bengal counterparts by comfortable margins.

Mr Kanna Phaneendra, Chairman of Suneendra Sports Corporation and owner of one of the top three horse polo clubs in Asia was the special guest invitee this morning.

Later in the evening, Mr Chander Mukhi Sharma, Secretary-General, Basketball Federation of India was witness to the final Level 2 qualifying match between Telangana and Punjab boys.

The Delhi girls fought a close battle against Andhra Pradesh, who recovered from a poor first quarter showing and fought their way back into the contest. But Delhi held on and advanced to level 1 with a 41-38 win, on the back of Trishala’s consistent scoring (21 pts) throughout the game. In Group A of Level 1, Rajasthan girls pulled away late for a 26-23 win against BFI-Madhya Pradesh.

In the second half of the day, the Tamil Nadu girls won a thriller against Kerala that was decided in the final minutes. Despite Kerala’s size, Tamil Nadu stuck to their strategy of team rebounding and running the breaks. TN executed calmly down the stretch and pulled off a 61-57 victory. In other level 1 boys’ games, Chhattisgarh blew out Maharashtra 60 to 33, while Uttar Pradesh knocked out Kerala from the tournament with a 60-16 win.

RESULTS FROM Day 4 (4^th October 2016) till end of day

Girls:

Final Qualifying match (Level 2 to Level 1)

Both these teams have qualified to the prequarterfinals already. This match is played so that the winning team gets to decide their prequarterfinal opponent.

1. Delhi (Kritika Dhingra 28, Trishala 16) bt Punjab (Harsimran Kaur 8) 63-30 (24-7, 9-10, 11-9, 19-4)

Qualifying matches (Level 2 to Level 1):

1. Delhi (Trishala 21, Kritika Dhingra 10) bt Andhra Pradesh (V. Venkata Lakshmi 12, N. Anjali 8) 41-38 (16-2, 10-14, 11-9, 4-13)
2. Punjab (Manroop Kaur 13, Isha 10) bt West Bengal (Priyanka Ghosh 11, Shreya Nath 8, Ratri Dey 7) 47-38 (8-13, 6-6, 15-4, 18-15)

Level 1:

Group A:

1. Rajasthan (Rashi Khotani 7) bt BFI-Madhya Pradesh (Asmat Kaur Taunque 13) 26-23 (7-7, 7-3, 6-11, 6-2)
2. Chhattisgarh (Akansha Singh 17, Khusbhoo Gupta 12, D Kirti 11) bt BFI-Madhya Pradesh (Asmat Kaur Taunque 23, Nancy Mishra 9) 65-44 (19-16, 16-2, 12-17, 18-9)

Group B:

1. Maharashtra (S. Pawar 12, Danica Pereira 12) bt Telangana (Y. Swathi 8) 41-16 (8-6, 10-0, 6-1, 17-9)
2. Tamil Nadu (Sathya K 19, Sree Varshini J 11, Nikita A 8) bt Kerala (Ann Mary Zachariah 15, Sarangi Santosh 9) 61-57 (18-8, 11-14, 12-22, 20-13)

Loser Knockout Quarterfinals:

1. Odisha (Akankshya Das 9, Swetha Pradhan 6) bt Goa (Casey Sancia Nunes 2, Brigitte Albuquerque 2, Asmita Simran PK 2) 17-6 (2-0, 7-2, 8-2, 0-2)
2. Chandigarh (Anjali Negi 14, Kiranjeet Kaur 10) bt Jammu and Kashmir(Pranati Raj Tashu 4) 30-4 (8-0, 6-0, 6-2, 10-2)
3. Gujarat (Twinkle Kandar 10, Vishva Panchal 10) bt Bihar (Shubhra Dutt 2) 39-2 (11-0, 8-0, 9-0, 11-2)
4. Himachal Pradesh (Supreet Kaur 8, Gagneet Kaur 7) bt Jharkhand(Ashisom Kujur 9, Supriya Kumari 8) 43-29 (11-15, 13-9, 13-3, 6-2)

Boys:

Final Qualifying match (Level 2 to Level 1)

Both these teams have qualified to the prequarterfinals already. This match is played so that the winning team gets to decide their prequarterfinal opponent.

1. Telangana (Shaikh Khaja Vali 20, Paul Ritvik Inamala 18, Shoaib Khan 13) bt Punjab (Rohan 16, Deepak Kumar 13) 84-54 (30-8, 22-12, 24-17, 8-17)

Qualifying matches (Level 2 to Level 1):

1. Punjab (Gurdeep Singh 18, Prince Kumar 11, Rohan 10) bt West Bengal(Robiuddin Fakir 12, Kaushik Mondal 11) 53-41 (15-11, 14-16, 10-4, 14-10)
2. Telangana (Harsh Hooda 13, Shaik Khaja Vali 12, Paul Ritvik 10) btChandigarh (Sahil 14, Ramjaan Khan 13) 66-32 (17-15, 21-2, 14-4, 14-11)

Level 1:

Group A:

1. Uttar Pradesh (Vinay Pawar 14, Robin Banerjee 12, Yash Vardhan 11) btKerala (Pranav Prince 7) 60-16 (22-4, 16-1, 12-4, 16-7)
2. Andhra Pradesh (Shaik Ahmed Alisha 13, S. Nayeem Basha 13) btOdisha (Brahmandanda Behera 17, SK Fayazuddin 12) 54-49 (14-6, 12-6, 17-15, 11-22)

Group B:

1. Chhattisgarh (S. Sudhir 20, Md. Farhan Raza 12, Pranav Sharma 10) btMaharashtra (Imran Khan 9, Usman Khan 8) 60-33 (10-9, 12-8, 18-10, 20-6)
2. Rajasthan (Mahaveer Banjara 19, Sheikh Saif Ali 17) bt Karnataka (Shiva Kumar R 14, Achintya Krishna 14) 63-38 (18-10, 14-14, 19-6, 12-8)

Loser Knockout Quarterfinals:

1. Jammu & Kashmir (Rinku Singh 13, Aslam Khan 7) bt Uttarakhand (Ritik Kumar 11, Amanveer Singh 10) 33-32 (8-7, 0-7, 7-11, 18-7)
2. Himachal Pradesh (Sukhwinder Singh 16, Prabhjot Singh 15) btPuducherry (Shaan Deepan M 7) 64-37 (13-5, 16-18, 12-5, 23-9)
3. Delhi (Tushar 15, Ashwani 13, Alpansh Makker 10) bt Jharkhand (Ashish Verma 8, Abhishek Chhetry 8) 48-30 (15-11, 3-6, 19-10, 11-3)
4. Tamil Nadu (R. Harish 25, S. Harish 24) bt Gujarat (Paramveer Singh Tak 16, Karan Mahadik 13) 70-34 (14-4, 13-4, 23-9, 20-13)

Hyderabad, 3^rd October 2016: The league stages of the 43^rd Arise Steel Sub-Junior National Basketball Championship for boys and girls 2016 entered its third day today at Saroornagar Indoor Stadium.

During the day, former Member of Parliament from Secunderabad Constituency, Mr Anjan Kumar Yadav witnessed the match between Himachal Pradesh and Delhi girls.

After losing both their games thus far, Karnataka girls got the better of Haryana (47-33), who were handed their second loss today morning. The Uttar Pradesh girls put up solid team effort but could not close out their game against Kerala, who edged ahead for a 40-38 victory.

The Delhi girls team continued their good run with a comfortable 49-25 victory against Himachal Pradesh. Point guard Kritika Dhingra led from the front once again with 19 points. In the other level 2 girls’ games thus far today, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh held their opponents to single digits in victories against Jammu and Kashmir and Odisha respectively. Anjali led her Chandigarh team with 19 points in the 37-18 win against Uttarakhand.

Defending champions BFI-Madhya Pradesh boys routed Andhra Pradesh 61-32 with BFI-MP’s Brijesh Tiwari contributing 20 points. Odisha boys looked good in their game against Kerala, trouncing them 64 to 26, while Uttarakhand sprinted past Puducherry for a 51-20 win. The Maharashtra and Karnataka boys’ game, however, was a real contest with Maharashtra holding off the Karnataka team for a 67-59 victory.

Later in the day, the Kerala girls won their second game of day 3 defeating home team Telangana 52-32. Kerala centre Ann Mary Zachariah put up a stellar performance with 24 points. Punjab girls also picked up a win today against Jharkhand (34-20).

Telangana boys, on the other hand, gave the home crowd something to cheer for as they dictated the game against Tamil Nadu that ended with a whopping 76-37 victory. Centre Harsh Hooda led the way for Telangana with 20 points. The defending champions BFI-Madhya Pradesh boys seemed tireless in their second game of the day with a 77-51 win over Uttar Pradesh. BFI-MP’s Virat Dhakad scored a game-high 27 points.

The girls’ defending champions, Chhattisgarh, are yet to lose in the tournament. Today, they showcased a classic team effort against the fatigued Karnataka girls with a 52-40 win. Fellow Group A team BFI-Madhya Pradesh girls came from behind for a brave win against Haryana (29-23).

RESULTS FROM DAY 3 (3^rd October 2016) up to 6.30 pm

Girls:

Level 1:

Group A:

1. Karnataka (Harini MS 14, Janani N 11, Simran Agarwal 8) bt Haryana(Sameeksha 10, Ritika 8) 47-33 (18-8, 9-11, 14-7, 6-7)
2. Chhattisgarh (D. Kirti 12, Urvashi Baghel 12, Jyoti Prajapati 10, Akansha Singh 10) bt Karnataka (Harini MS 15) 52-40 (13-7, 11-12, 16-4, 12-17)
3. BFI-Madhya Pradesh* (Prachiti Suri 13, Asmat Kaur Tanque 8) btHaryana (Sameeksha 11) 29-23 (2-14, 4-2, 9-0, 14-7)

Group B:

1. Kerala (Gouri VS 10, Ann Mary Zachariah 10) bt Uttar Pradesh (Kirti Nigam 4, Shreya Rani 4, Pratima Chauhan 4, Ananya Gupta 4, Chaitali Rajesh 4, Tanvi Suri 4) 40-38 (9-6, 12-14, 7-5, 12-13)
2. Kerala (Ann Mary Zachariah 24, Gouri VS 12) bt Telangana (A Jayanthi, G Sandhya 11) 52-32 (21-7, 10-4, 13-10, 8-11)

Level 2:

Group C:

1. Delhi (Kritika Dhingra 19, Trishala 11, Yakshita Jain 9) bt HimachalPradesh (Vanshika Nirala 10, Gagneet Kaur 7) 49-25 (9-6, 16-4, 11-7, 13-8)

Group D:

1. West Bengal (Shreya Nath 12, Ankita Mohanta 6) bt Jammu andKashmir (Pranati Raj Tashu 1) 29-1 (12-0, 1-0, 8-0, 8-1)

Group E:

2. Punjab (Manroop Kaur 10, Isha 8, Harsimran Kaur 8) bt Jharkhand(Supriya Kumari 5) 34-20 (6-4, 9-7, 8-2, 11-7)

Group F:

1. Andhra Pradesh (V. Venkatalakshmi 17) bt Odisha (Akankshya Das 4)44-8 (22-2, 15-0, 5-4, 2-2)
2. Chandigarh (Anjali 19, Payal 8) bt Uttarakhand (Samya Ansare 8, M. Mansoor Wari 6) 37-18 (10-5, 2-0, 6-4, 9-0)

Boys:

Level 1:

Group A:

1. BFI-Madhya Pradesh* (Brijesh Tiwari 20, Virat Dhakad 11, Sachin Thapa 10) bt Andhra Pradesh (Shaik Ahmed Alisha 8, KVV Ramana 6) 61-32 (19-12, 12-11, 17-3, 3-6)
2. Odisha (Brahmananda Behera 21, SK Fayazuddin 19, Rohit Bilung 14) btKerala (Pranav Prince 8) 64-26 (18-11, 11-9, 23-2, 12-4)
3. BFI-Madhya Pradesh* (Virat Dhakad 27, Brijesh Tiwari 19) bt Uttar Pradesh (Robin Banerjee 16, Vinay Pawar 13) 77-51 (12-18, 14-15, 26-4, 25-14)

Group B:

1. Maharashtra (Imran Khan 18, Usman Khan 18) bt Karnataka (A. Krishna 20, Shiva Kumar R. 16) 67-59 (18-13, 15-11, 16-17, 18-18)
2. Haryana (Gourav 15, Depender 8) bt Chhattisgarh (Pranav Sharma 9) 48-25 (20-6, 8-6, 12-8, 8-5)

Level 2:

Group C:

1. Chandigarh (Sahil 23, Ramjaan Khan 13, Sunny 11) bt HimachalPradesh (C. Bhardwaj 16, Prabhjot Singh 12, Sukhvinder Singh 11) 58-50 (11-11, 15-10, 10-15, 22-14)

Group D:

1. West Bengal (Robiuddin Fakir 11, Kaushik Mondal 10) bt Gujarat(Paramveer Singh 20, Aryaman Singh 10) 50-48 (18-13, 12-12, 9-18, 11-15)

Group E:

1. Uttarakhand (Vinayak Kumar 17, Ritik Kumar 10) bt Puducherry(Jagathesh S 7) 51-20 (16-3, 10-9, 10-6, 15-2)
2. Punjab (Gurdeep Singh 12, Prabhsimran 10) bt Goa (Jonathan G 5) 55-10(15-3, 16-5, 10-0, 14-2)

Group F:

1. Delhi (Ashwani 22, Alpansh Makker 16, Tushar 12) bt Bihar (Shivam Singh 19, Sohail Alam 13, Abhishek Kumar 12) 71-63 (16-11, 16-5, 14-27, 26-20)
2. Telangana (Harsh Hooda 20, Shoaib Khan 10, D. Prashank 8) bt TamilNadu (R. Harish 14, S. Harish 12) 76-37 (16-5, 18-8, 20-12, 22-12)

Hyderabad, 2^nd October 2016: The second day of the 43^rd Arise Steel Sub-Junior National Basketball Championship 2016 saw the players, coaches, referees and organisers working hard on Gandhi Jayanti at the Saroornagar Indoor Stadium.

The defending champions Chhattisgarh girls got off to a resounding start, with a close victory against Rajasthan late yesterday evening (32-31) and by defeating Haryana handily today morning 94-39. Chhattisgarh’s Jyoti Prajapati led all scorers with 32 points. The Rajasthan girls bounced back from the close loss yesterday to defeat Karnataka 35-31.

Maharashtra girls registered their first victory today morning, defeating Kerala 35-27, after the Tamil Nadu girls handed them a loss in their opening game late last evening.

The defending champions in the boys’ category, BFI-Madhya Pradesh, continued their winning ways with a comfortable victory against Odisha 57-18. Neighbours and traditional basketball hubs Punjab and Haryana also picked up wins against Puducherry and Maharashtra respectively. The Andhra Pradesh boys blew out Kerala with a 62-21 victory, while Goa suffered their second loss against Uttarakhand 28 to 13.

RESULTS FROM DAY 2 (2^nd Oct 2016) upto 2 pm

Girls:

Level 1:

Group A:

1. Rajasthan (Rashi Khotani 11, Manasvi Bhadana 9) bt Karnataka (Harini MS 10, Srishti Ranjan 8) 35-31 (4-10, 9-7, 13-8, 9-6)
2. Chhattisgarh (Jyoti Prajapati 32, Akansha Singh 17, D. Kirti 16) btHaryana (Sameeksha 12) 94-39 (15-5, 27-9, 28-10, 24-15)

Group B:

1. Maharashtra (Siya Deodhar 13, Chaitaali Bafna 10) bt Kerala (Ann Mary Zahariah 9, Gouri VS 6) 35-27 (8-10, 7-4, 10-2, 10-11)

Level 2:

Group D:

1. Goa (Vaishnavi Chirve 6) bt Jammu and Kashmir (Pranati Raj Tashu 5)15-6 (0-0, 4-0, 1-5, 9-1)

Boys:

Level 1:

Group A:

1. Andhra Pradesh (KVV Ramana 17, Shaik Ahmed Alisha 12, Sreetam Tripathy 10) bt Kerala (Pranav Prince 8) 62-21 (17-6, 14-11, 19-2, 12-2)
2. Madhya Pradesh (Virat Dhakad 16) bt Odisha (Brahamananda Behera 10) 57-18 (18-7, 23-1, 10-5, 6-5)

Group B:

1. Haryana (Gourav 19, Vikas 18, Sahil 10) bt Maharashtra (Usman Khan 12, Danish Shaikh 10) 76-41 (28-4, 16-7, 18-15, 14-15)

Level 2:

Group D:

1. West Bengal (Robi Uddin Fakir 14, Amarendra Nayak 14) bt Jharkhand(Ashik Tamang 17, Goutam Kumar 14) 47-42 (10-8, 7-10, 12-14, 18-10)

Group E:

1. Punjab (Gurdeep Singh 24, Rohan 14, Prince Kumar 9) bt Puducherry(Shaan Deepan M 5) 69-17 (26-5, 23-6, 10-2, 10-4)
2. Uttarakhand (Jotish Kumar 8, Ritik Kumar 7) bt Goa (Jonathan Gomes 6)28-13 (11-3, 7-1, 4-1, 6-8)

Day 1 after opening ceremony

Girls:

Level 1:

Group A:

1. Chhattisgarh (Urvashi Baghel 8, Akansha Singh 6) bt Rajasthan (Rashi Khotani 14, Chelsi 6) 32-31 (9-8, 7-9, 6-9, 10-5)

Group B:

1. Tamil Nadu (Shree Varshini J 14, Nitika A 14, Harithra S 10) btMaharashtra (C Maitali Bafna 10, Siya Deodmar 8) 56-29 (14-9, 12-2, 16-10, 14-8)

Hyderabad, 1^st October 2016: On a cloudy and pleasant Saturday morning in Hyderabad, the 43^rd Sub-Junior National Championship for Boys and Girls 2016 tipped off at SATS Indoor Stadium here in Saroornagar. There was no dearth of energy on both the wooden courts in the stadium as the U-14 teams took to the court representing their respective states.

Hosts Telangana got off to a mixed start, with the boys team winning their Level 2, Group F game 42-21 over Bihar. The girls meanwhile got outclassed 46-29 by Uttar Pradesh in their Level 1 Group B game.

Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya is chief guest for the inauguration ceremony

Union Minister for Labour and Employment Shri Bandaru Dattatreya, who is also a three-time Parliamentarian from Secunderabad constituency, was the chief guest for the inaugural ceremony. Also present as guests were Mr Ajay Sud and Mr Shafiq Shaikh, Vice Presidents of Basketball Federation of India.

Mr Rajender Reddy, President of Telangana Basketball Association thanked Basketball Federation of India and its president Shri K Govindaraj for their support, while Mr R Sridhar Reddy, President of Hyderabad District Basketball Association presented the welcome address. Mr Norman Isaac, BFI executive committee member and General Secretary of the Telangana Basketball Association, introduced all the guests.

“The raw material for sports is below the age of twelve, so unless it is made compulsory in school curriculum and we give marks for sports participation, we will not get the raw material,” said Mr Rajender Reddy. “Tug of war used to be an Olympic sport long back but because of lack of interest it was removed from the Olympics, but still it continues to be in the ‘A’ Group in our sports list. Whereas, basketball, even though it is such a popular sport, has been degraded to ‘B’ Group. As a result of this, in our own state of Telangana, we had so many basketball players getting employed with Railways, but now that has stopped. We have brought this to the attention of the Sports Minister and the sports authorities and I hope that with the confidence that the public have in you, you can bring this to the attention of the Parliament and get this rectified.”

Mr Dattatreya noted all the points raised by Mr Reddy, and added, “I will definitely talk to Sports Minister Mr Vijay Goel and see that every student should play some sport. India has a vast number of basketball players, but due to a lot of political interference, the right encouragement is not forthcoming. I definitely feel that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi we will see that political interference should go from sports. All Federations should be run by sportspersons.”

Delhi Girls & Rajasthan Boys impress on Day 1

The day began with the Himachal Pradesh boys defeating neighbours Jammu and Kashmir 47-35, led by Churchill Bhardwaj’s 15 points. Jharkhand boys got the better of Gujarat in a close encounter that ended 48-41. Tamil Nadu boys were also involved in a tight match against the Delhi, managing to pull away in the fourth quarter for a 60-52 victory. Tamil Nadu’s R. Harish was the day’s top scorer thus far with 23 points. In the other level 2 boys’ games, Punjab and Puducherry registered blowout wins against Uttarakhand and Goa respectively.

The level 1 boys games today morning were one-sided affairs as Madhya Pradesh dominated against Kerala with a 40-9 win, while Rajasthan put up a massive 74 points in their win against Maharashtra. Andhra Pradesh came from behind to clinch a 58-56 victory against Uttar Pradesh on the basis of a balanced scoring effort. S. Nayeem put up 16 points for AP.

In the girls’ matches, Odisha and Uttarakhand were involved in a low-scoring but tense encounter that ended with Odisha edging past Uttarakhand 19-18. The other girls’ games in the first half today were lopsided as West Bengal beat Goa by 44 points, Andhra Pradesh cruised past Chandigarh 41-16 and Punjab crushed Bihar 52-4.

The Delhi girls began their sub-junior campaign with a 49-25 victory against Gujarat led by point guard Karitika’s sublime 21 points. Centre Asmat Kaur (14 pts) led the Madhya Pradesh girls to a 28-27 triumph over Karnataka in their opening game.

RESULTS FROM DAY 1 (1^st October 2016)

Girls:

Level 1:

Group A:

1. Madhya Pradesh (Asmat Kaur Taunq 14) bt Karnataka (Harini 7, Janani 5) 28-27 (7-4, 6-6, 5-8, 10-9)

Level 2:

Group C:

1. Delhi (Karitika 21, Trishala 11, Praki 11) bt Gujarat (Naomi Lakhanpal 8, Praasha Dabhi 8) 49-25 (14-7, 7-6, 16-6, 12-6)

Group D:

1. West Bengal (Shreya Nath 9, Priyanka Ghosh 8) bt Goa (Sejal Chaubey 2, Riya Palkar 2) 48-4 (16-0, 9-4, 15-0, 6-0)

Group E:

1. Punjab (Harsimran 12, Nitika 10, Manroop 9) bt Bihar (Pragya 2, F. Kumari 2) 52-4 (16-4, 17-0, 10-0, 9-0)

Group F:

1. Andhra Pradesh (V. Venkatalakshmi 17, A. Jasmine 10, N. Anjali 8) btChandigarh (Anjali 7) 41-16 (11-5, 16-2, 5-1, 9-8)
2. Odisha (Sarita Das 6) bt Uttarakhand (Sarveen Kaur 4, Chalsi Choudhary 4, Jacpreet Kaur 4) 19-18 (5-8, 6-2, 6-2, 2-6)

Boys:

Level 1:

Group A:

1. Madhya Pradesh (Sachindra 6, Mayank 6, Virat 6) bt Kerala (Sreehari 3)40-9 (16-4, 9-1, 12-2, 3-2)
2. Andhra Pradesh (S. Nayeem 16, D. Likith 12, SK Ahisha 12) bt Uttar Pradesh (Robin B. 16, Suraj 16) 58-56 (9-12, 16-15, 18-17, 15-12)

Group B:

1. Rajasthan (Sheikh Saif Ali 22, Mahaveer 16, Kamal Singh 12) btMaharashtra (Imran Khan 6, Mohd. Faiz Sheikh 6) 74-25 (29-4, 18-0, 9-8, 18-13)
2. Chhattisgarh (Pranav Sharma 12, R. Deepak 12) bt Karnataka(Achinthya 17) 45-26 (17-10, 5-1, 17-6, 6-9)

Level 2:

Group C:

1. Himachal Pradesh (Churchill Bhardwaj 15, Prabhjot Singh 11) bt Jammu and Kashmir (Rishabh Wazler 11, Rinku Singh 8) 47-35 (12-4, 6-13, 13-4, 16-14)
2. Jharkhand (Goutam Kumar 21) bt Gujarat (Rohan Khureshi 12, Paramveer Singh 10) 48-41 (17-8, 13-9, 11-14, 7-10)

Group E:

1. Punjab (Rohan 12, Khushdeep Singh 12, Gurdeep Singh 11) btUttarakhand (Rijik Kumar 9, Aman Veer 8) 58-28 (19-9, 18-6, 15-4, 6-4)
2. Puducherry (Shan Deepan 17, Nandhan Auro 15) bt Goa (Daniel D’silva 2) 54-2 (18-2, 6-0, 19-0, 11-0)

Group F:

1. Tamil Nadu (R. Harish 23, S. Harish 16, P. Hari H. Sudan 10) bt Delhi(Ashwanj 19, Tushar 13) 60-52 (13-18, 17-14, 18-11, 12-9)
2. Telangana (Harsh 15) bt Bihar (Sohail 6, Sagar 5) 42-21 (14-04, 8-6, 12-9, 8-2)

Hyderabad, 30^th February 2016: The 43^rd Arise Steel Sub-Junior National Basketball Championship for Boys and Girls 2016 is all set to tip off at the Sports Authority of Telangana (SATS) Indoor Stadium in Saroornagar in the city between 1^st to 7^th October. The championship is being organised by the Hyderabad District Basketball Association under the auspices of Telangana State Basketball Association (TBA) and the Basketball Federation of India (BFI).

The Sub-junior or ‘mini’ nationals is annually held for boys and girls of the age 13 or younger and is the premier national level tournament at this entry level age group. As many as 22 matches per day will be played on a league cum knockout basis inside the two indoor courts within the stadium complex.

While the Championship will tip off on the morning of 1^st October itself, the opening ceremony will be held later in the afternoon from 4 pm onwards. Shri Bandaru Dattatraya, Honourable Union Minister for Labour and Employment will be the chief guest of the occasion. Other guests of honour will be Shri G Kishan Reddy (MLA and Floor Leader, BJLP Telangana), Shri A Dinakar Babu (IAS, Vice Chairman & Managing Director, Sports Authority of Telangana) and Shri Aadhav Arjuna, Managing Director, Arise Industries and Agency Private Ltd.

“I would like to thank our title sponsors Arise Steel for making this event possible, and for their continued patronage towards Indian basketball. The stadium is fully ready and we have arranged for accommodation, travel and food for all the participating teams and officials,” said Mr Norman Isaac, BFI executive committee member and General Secretary of the Telangana Basketball Association.

National level basketball is returning to the city of Hyderabad for the first time in 13 years, after the 2003 Senior National Basketball Championship. In fact, the last time a national level tournament was held in unified Andhra Pradesh was the junior national championship in Anantapur back in 2007.

Madhya Pradesh is the two time defending champions in the boys section while Chhattisgarh is the defending champion in the girls section from the 42^nd edition held in Puducherry earlier this February. Andhra Pradesh and Telangana teams had finished 5^th and 10^th in the boys and girls sections respectively.

New Delhi/Bengaluru, 19^th September 2016: Yesterday, India’s ‘Young Cagers’ had memorably finished in the top 7 at the 2016 FIBA Asia Challenge that concluded in Iran. Immediately recognizing the significance of this achievement, Basketball Federation of India (BFI) President K Govindaraj has announced a cash prize of INR 5,00,000/- to the entire team and coaching staff.

“Reaching the top 7 in Asia is an excellent achievement, especially considering the circumstances and opponents,” said Mr Govindaraj. “We beat three teams who have better world rankings. This cash prize is a small token of appreciation for our players’ indomitable spirit. They have kept India’s flag flying high. This is a culmination of all that sacrifice by everybody involved.”

Elaborating on the challenging circumstances, Mr Govindaraj said, “It is important to remember that even though our national federation has approval from the international body i.e. FIBA, we have not received any government funding for almost two years now. In spite of this we have been able to send our national teams for participation in ten international events and conducted all the National Championships.”

“Prior to the team’s departure, I had wished that the players put up a performance that is even better than in all the previous championships they have attended. They have superbly delivered,” added BFI Secretary General Chander Mukhi Sharma.

Image-credit: FIBA.com

New Delhi/Bengaluru, 18^th September 2016: Closing out on a spectacular note, the 53^rd ranked Indian team outclassed higher ranked Chinese Taipei (WR48) to end the 2016 FIBA Asia Challenge in 7^th position. The tournament has entered its final day at the Twelve Thousand People Sport Hall, Azadi Sports Complex in Tehran, Iran.

The margin of the 80-68 victory is especially significant considering that Taipei had beaten India by 24 points (90-66) earlier on in the preliminary group B. Prior to that India had lost to Taipei by 6 points during the 38th William Jones Cup International Basketball Tournament back in July.

Backup forward Rikin Pethani steps up, before Amritpal, Vishesh & TJ take over

Having come off the bench in all previous 7 games so far, Rikin Pethani made the most of his first start, literally grabbing the opportunity with both hands.

After captain Amritpal Singh opened the scoring for India, Pethani took over, scoring 6 straight points to tie the game at 8-8 midway through the first quarter. A Taipei run sparked by the naturalized American Quincy Davis III followed, as India trailed 17-22 going into the second 10 minutes.

The Pethani show continued in Q2, as India went on its own 10-2 run to reach halftime with a 1 point lead, 33-32. With his final statline reading 17 points and 9 rebounds, most of which came in the first half, Pethani had done more than enough. In the second half, two of India’s “Big Three” – centre Amritpal and shooting guard Vishesh Bhriguvanshi started to take over. A powerful dunk by Amritpal midway through the third got India a slender 3pt lead (36-39), before Taipei made another push of its own to lead 50-46. The momentum swung back India’s way late in the period thanks to 6 unanswered points by India which included a two pointer by the streaky high octane backup guard Talwinderjit Sahi with just 8 seconds left.

India had now outscored Taipei in back to back quarters and led 52-50 heading into the final 10 minutes.

The fourth quarter continued in India’s favour, starting with a three pointer by Vishesh (his second of the game), and another two by TJ. But Taipei was in no mood to back down. Quincy Davis had a dunk of his own to bring it within 5, before Yi-Hsiang Chou and Kai-Hsiang Hu combined to take Taipei back up by 1 point.

That though turned out to be Taipei’s last stand, as captain Amritpal and TJ sparked another 8-0 run to take India up 70-63 with a little under 3 minutes remaining in the game. The last three minutes saw another 10-5 scoring spree for India to seal the memorable triumph.

Amritpal had recorded his 5^th double double (at least 10 points and 10 rebounds in a single game) of the tournament, while Vishesh led India’s scorers with 22. Backups Rikin and TJ too had contributed more than 10 points each.

Interestingly, the third component of India’s Big Three, power forward Amjyot Singh, with a reduced role, had 6 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 steal and a block. In a bid to avoid Taipei any easy scoring, he had also committed all of his 5 permitted fouls.

India’s improved perimeter defensive close outs must also be lauded for restricting Taipei to just 3/17 from beyond the arc, after allowing 11 three pointers in their earlier head to head loss.

Results on 18/9/2016

India (Vishesh Bhriguvanshi 22 pts, Amritpal Singh 20 pts 13 reb, Rikin Pethani 17 pts 9 reb, Talwinderjit Singh 13 pts) bt Taipei (Quincy Davis III 13 pts & 15 reb, Yu-An Chiang 16 pts, Yi-Hsiang Chou 15 pts) 80-68 (17-22, 16-10, 19-18, 28-18]

Best performance by an Indian men’s team in 27 years

India’s 7^th place finish out of a 12 team strong competition, could well be its best performance in the last 28 years. The side has had better finishes in terms of final standings in previous editions of this competition (which was formerly known as “FIBA Asia Cup” and “FIBA Asia Stankovic Cup”). India had finished 5^th out of 5 teams in 2008, 6^th out of 8 teams in 2004, and 7^th out of 9 teams in 2014. But considering the smaller field on these occasions, India’s current 7^thplace (with 4 wins & 4 losses) is its best ever performance in 27 years, after its 6^th place finish in the 1989 Asian Basketball Championship.

This is also the only time when India has beaten 3 higher ranked sides (China, Philippines and Taipei) in the same event.

It is also pertinent to note that only last year, at the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship, India had finished 8^th, its best ever since 2003. So the current 7^th place is another big step forward.

What makes the victory over Taipei even sweeter is the fact that this could well be India’s first ever win against the side. Most importantly, the victory proved that on their day, when all guns are firing, India can beat some of the best teams in Asia.

Image credit-FIBA.com

Tehran, 17^th September 2016: India took on Asian heavyweights Japan in the first of its 5-8 classification games at the FIBA Asia Challenge 2016. The tournament is underway at the Twelve Thousand People Sport Hall, Azadi Sports Complex in Tehran, Iran.

India did well in almost matching Japan in three of the four quarters, before the Asian giants prevailed 77-66. India will look to end its FIBA Asia Challenge 2016 on a good note with a final 7-8 classification vs Taipei tomorrow at 3 pm.

India shot poorly at the start and ended up 8 points behind Japan after the first 10 minutes. The next three quarters proved much more equal, as India led by captain centre Amritpal Singh began crashing the offensive glass. Amritpal would end with yet another double double of 22 points and 14 rebounds, with Amjyot pitching in with 18. For every run that India made though, Japan proved equal to the task to secure the 11 point win. Japan now faces China in the 5-6 classification match tomorrow.

Coming to the semifinals, Iran will take on Jordan, while Korea will face Iraq, a team that had stunned China in the quarterfinals.

Results on 17/9/2016

Japan (Ira Brown 20, Makoto Heijima 19, Ryusei Shinoyama 12) bt India (Amritpal Singh 22 pts & 14 reb, Amjyot Singh 18 pts) 77-66 (22-14, 18-19, 20-18, 17-15]

 

Photo credit: Fiba.com